WEBVTT 00:00:00.380 --> 00:00:03.160 It is the 15th of May, 2026. 00:00:03.320 --> 00:00:04.420 I am Corey J. 00:00:04.420 --> 00:00:06.900 Mahler, and this is At Any Cost. 00:00:06.900 --> 00:00:11.120 This is episode 28, a Q&A episode. 00:00:11.120 --> 00:00:18.120 And I do not believe that I have any housekeeping, so I will simply get into the questions here. 00:00:22.720 --> 00:00:25.420 As soon as I open up my list here. 00:00:26.760 --> 00:00:31.420 Question one, what is your opinion on the arrest of Chud the Builder? 00:00:31.420 --> 00:00:34.640 I pulled this one out because it is relevant. 00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:36.580 It's sort of an ongoing thing right now. 00:00:37.760 --> 00:00:48.620 I would start off by saying, I don't always answer questions like this, because a lot of times these things are sort of in flux, and I may not know a particularly great amount about them. 00:00:48.620 --> 00:01:00.960 For instance, I was unaware of this man before recent events, the people tagging me and asking me questions, partly because he's in Tennessee, and I'm in Tennessee, and I'm an attorney, and he obviously needs an attorney. 00:01:01.540 --> 00:01:07.520 But as I have already said on X, I do not have a Tennessee bar card. 00:01:07.520 --> 00:01:13.320 And yes, there is pro hoc vichay, which basically just means, specifically for this given matter. 00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:25.060 So a court can admit an attorney to practice before the court, even though the attorney does not have the bar card necessary, whatever it happens to be, to practice in that court. 00:01:25.740 --> 00:01:30.160 That's usually exceptional, and there usually has to be a compelling reason for it. 00:01:30.900 --> 00:01:45.060 There's no compelling reason to the mind of a court to admit a California attorney in a Tennessee court for a criminal matter, because there are many attorneys who practice criminal law. 00:01:45.580 --> 00:01:52.660 And so no court is going to admit me, pro hoc vichay, particularly because I have not practiced criminal law. 00:01:52.660 --> 00:02:01.640 And so all of the things they would use, all the warrants that would be in favor of that admission are against me. 00:02:01.920 --> 00:02:07.380 So someone asked on X and also in the chat, can I offer legal advice? 00:02:07.440 --> 00:02:08.900 I can offer legal advice. 00:02:09.260 --> 00:02:16.360 It's not officially legal advice because I'm not a Tennessee attorney, so it would just be generalized advice. 00:02:16.800 --> 00:02:18.600 So you know, attorneys can consult. 00:02:18.600 --> 00:02:26.220 That's something that you can do as an attorney without necessarily being admitted in the state in which the action is taking place. 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:37.460 But to get to the question proper, I've pointed out it's not the sort of behavior in which I engage, and I was already fairly clear about that on X what I meant by saying that. 00:02:37.960 --> 00:02:41.040 As you may have noticed, I don't use expletives. 00:02:41.040 --> 00:02:44.260 I don't engage in that sort of shocking behavior. 00:02:44.280 --> 00:02:46.020 I don't do that sort of stuff. 00:02:47.160 --> 00:02:50.760 I don't necessarily condemn it in all situations. 00:02:50.760 --> 00:02:51.280 I don't. 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:51.900 I'll be explicit. 00:02:51.900 --> 00:02:54.020 I do not condemn it in all situations. 00:02:54.380 --> 00:03:03.180 And I have to give the caveat of all situations, because if you're doing it in church, that's inappropriate, right? 00:03:03.740 --> 00:03:12.220 The behavior in which he is engaging, if you ran into a black church and did that, I would object to that, because that's a totally different thing. 00:03:12.220 --> 00:03:13.200 That's inappropriate. 00:03:13.200 --> 00:03:14.400 Don't do that. 00:03:14.900 --> 00:03:23.700 Even though, yes, there are plenty of problems with black churches, many of them teach horrible theology, still, time and place, matter of wisdom, don't do that. 00:03:24.500 --> 00:03:27.800 Now, is what he's doing necessarily wise? 00:03:28.140 --> 00:03:30.600 No, from what I've seen, it may not be wise. 00:03:31.100 --> 00:03:34.280 But that doesn't mean that it's not something that needs to be done, right? 00:03:34.480 --> 00:03:46.860 There's a certain change in mindset and sort of the contours of how freedom of speech and related matters are enforced or not enforced in the US context. 00:03:46.860 --> 00:03:49.920 And he's pushing the envelope in what appears to be a useful way. 00:03:51.080 --> 00:03:54.400 Preliminary comment, like I said, I know not that much about him. 00:03:54.400 --> 00:03:57.820 I just did a little bit of research before I hit, start streaming. 00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:17.200 And so I don't believe that he should have been arrested necessarily, because from what I can see of the information that is already public from what I can actually access, it looks like it was indeed self-defense. 00:04:17.600 --> 00:04:20.460 Did he engage in provocative behavior? 00:04:20.520 --> 00:04:21.040 Yes. 00:04:21.320 --> 00:04:23.120 But are you allowed to do that legally? 00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:24.760 The answer is yes, you are. 00:04:25.260 --> 00:04:28.880 There are certain lines you cannot cross, right? 00:04:28.880 --> 00:04:31.000 You can't stalk someone, that's a crime. 00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:32.440 You're not allowed to stalk people. 00:04:33.020 --> 00:04:36.920 You can't follow people for blocks, isn't an appropriate thing. 00:04:36.920 --> 00:04:38.160 Don't go out and do that. 00:04:38.420 --> 00:04:49.600 But generally speaking, you do have a right to free speech, including in public, as long as you don't cross certain boundaries, basically as long as you're not making threats, right? 00:04:50.440 --> 00:05:03.120 And the threats have to be of a certain kind, because there's a whole area of the law concerned with that, and I don't want to get into that right now, but there are elements you have to hit in order to actually have it be a credible threat that is actionable and not free speech, right? 00:05:03.380 --> 00:05:08.660 So there are lines there, there's some gray area, just be careful with that stuff. 00:05:08.660 --> 00:05:10.400 You can look up the test online. 00:05:10.400 --> 00:05:14.740 It's fairly simple, fairly easy to understand, as a test like that should be. 00:05:15.360 --> 00:05:19.560 So it doesn't seem to me like his behavior crossed those lines. 00:05:20.080 --> 00:05:28.960 It does seem to me like the other gentleman, we'll call him, engaged in threatening behavior, and then indeed assaulted him, in the criminal sense of the term. 00:05:29.260 --> 00:05:32.600 Incidentally, also I believe in the civil sense. 00:05:32.680 --> 00:05:35.660 There's a difference between assault and battery in civil courts. 00:05:35.660 --> 00:05:40.940 Assault is putting someone in imminent apprehension of undue or unwanted contact. 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:45.560 So if I pretend I'm going to punch you, that could be assault in a civil context. 00:05:45.880 --> 00:05:47.540 Battery is when I actually hit you. 00:05:48.300 --> 00:05:52.300 Incidentally, if I hit you in the back, it's battery and not assault, because you didn't see it coming. 00:05:53.180 --> 00:05:57.580 In the criminal sense, we usually mean by assault, actually physical contact, right? 00:05:57.580 --> 00:06:02.420 We mean actually hitting another person, doing something actually physical, not just words. 00:06:02.960 --> 00:06:09.700 And so it looks like the other gentleman engaged in that behavior, and so it would be warranted self-defense. 00:06:09.700 --> 00:06:11.960 That is my initial assessment of it. 00:06:12.240 --> 00:06:13.540 I think that's reasonable. 00:06:13.780 --> 00:06:26.620 And so does he pose the sort of imminent threat or ongoing threat where he should be incarcerated in order to prevent him from causing additional harm while this matter is being adjudicated? 00:06:26.620 --> 00:06:27.440 I don't think so. 00:06:27.860 --> 00:06:31.380 It's being done because he's a white man and the other man was black. 00:06:31.380 --> 00:06:32.380 That's the whole reason. 00:06:32.920 --> 00:06:42.620 And as a practical matter that's related to this, in cases where you have given current conditions, right? 00:06:42.760 --> 00:06:54.480 In cases where you have one of our guys who's white, who's clearly being persecuted on account of his race, or is at least being singled out for different treatment on account of his race, you support that guy. 00:06:55.300 --> 00:06:55.860 Period. 00:06:56.360 --> 00:07:03.460 Because it is a strategic matter, not just a moral objective matter. 00:07:03.760 --> 00:07:04.840 It's a different thing. 00:07:05.080 --> 00:07:10.060 And yes, as someone said in the chat, it's not even just a two-tier system, it's a multi-tier system. 00:07:10.660 --> 00:07:11.690 It's sort of... 00:07:11.690 --> 00:07:22.680 it's not really the Oppression Olympics as it has been called sometimes, because there are very much privileged groups, and the term privilege gets abused a lot, but it has utility as well. 00:07:22.680 --> 00:07:23.780 It's a very real thing. 00:07:24.540 --> 00:07:31.220 There are privileged groups with regard to treatment by our legal system, and there are groups that are not privileged. 00:07:31.220 --> 00:07:40.780 And if you're a white male, particularly a white male Christian, and he does appear to be a Christian, then you are basically devoid of any privilege. 00:07:40.780 --> 00:07:44.380 You are going to get the book thrown at you to use the old saying. 00:07:45.300 --> 00:07:49.680 So, you support your guy, you support our guy, because he is one of us. 00:07:50.160 --> 00:07:52.800 And could he have done something? 00:07:53.460 --> 00:07:55.640 Not in this case, but hypothetically. 00:07:56.040 --> 00:07:58.940 Even if he did something that was foolish, right? 00:07:59.100 --> 00:08:07.340 You still support the guy, because the system is persecuting him in a way because of who he is, because of what he is. 00:08:07.680 --> 00:08:10.980 And so, yes, again, you support our guy. 00:08:12.920 --> 00:08:20.020 I'm not going to give a blanket recommendation of that sort of behavior, but I'm not going to say that it's necessarily wrongful. 00:08:20.020 --> 00:08:24.180 Like I said in a post on X, I think it is something that needs to be done. 00:08:24.180 --> 00:08:27.660 I think it's something that's important, given the reality of where we are now. 00:08:27.660 --> 00:08:29.260 Again, it's that envelope pushing. 00:08:29.480 --> 00:08:32.000 It's trying to push things in our direction. 00:08:32.500 --> 00:08:36.220 It is beneficial in the long run. 00:08:36.840 --> 00:08:40.640 And there are guys who are going to do that, and guys like me who are not going to do that. 00:08:41.260 --> 00:08:57.900 So, no, the short answer is, I do not believe that he should have been arrested, and I don't believe in an objective system that was morally structured following the law, and not just the letter of the law, but also the intent of the law, the spirit of the law. 00:08:58.300 --> 00:08:59.860 I don't believe he would have been arrested. 00:09:00.220 --> 00:09:05.220 He would have been sent home and said, don't leave the county. 00:09:05.540 --> 00:09:10.120 That's just standard procedure for something like this if you're not incarcerated pending trial. 00:09:10.540 --> 00:09:12.560 Don't leave the county, stick around. 00:09:12.920 --> 00:09:18.700 We're going to have an investigation, and then we'll determine what happened and whether we charge you or not. 00:09:19.420 --> 00:09:20.620 That's how things should go. 00:09:20.980 --> 00:09:25.200 Of course, optimally, under ideal conditions, this wouldn't happen, right? 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:26.880 I pointed that out on X as well. 00:09:27.940 --> 00:09:30.920 Because we shouldn't have Africans in our lands. 00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:34.080 And so this sort of confrontation shouldn't even be possible. 00:09:34.440 --> 00:09:43.360 Now, if we had segregation in terms of actual countries, so they over in their lands, us in our lands, right? 00:09:43.840 --> 00:09:48.700 If we had that, then no, you shouldn't fly over there and harass them, right? 00:09:48.700 --> 00:09:49.580 That would be dumb. 00:09:49.580 --> 00:09:50.580 We'd condemn that. 00:09:51.020 --> 00:09:52.280 But they shouldn't be here. 00:09:52.320 --> 00:09:54.640 That's the foundational problem. 00:09:54.640 --> 00:09:57.280 That's the foundational issue that needs to be resolved. 00:09:57.900 --> 00:10:01.360 Again, don't go and harass people in church or places like that. 00:10:01.360 --> 00:10:03.800 But free speech is something that we have. 00:10:03.820 --> 00:10:06.680 I think that it is important within certain bounds. 00:10:06.680 --> 00:10:08.800 I don't think free speech should be unbounded. 00:10:08.800 --> 00:10:10.060 I'm not a libertarian, right? 00:10:10.180 --> 00:10:12.420 I think blasphemy should be illegal and punished. 00:10:13.160 --> 00:10:15.120 For instance, that's one example. 00:10:15.640 --> 00:10:21.540 But we do have free speech with regard to issues like this, and certain political issues and social issues. 00:10:22.360 --> 00:10:29.500 That should apply most strongly to us, incidentally, because we're the ones for whom the Constitutional protections were written, right? 00:10:29.500 --> 00:10:33.580 For their progeny, not for these aliens living in our lands. 00:10:34.780 --> 00:10:42.240 But you do need men to actually challenge these things and fight it out in the courts. 00:10:42.560 --> 00:10:47.200 So support him if you're able to, because he's going to need support. 00:10:48.200 --> 00:10:49.600 What he's doing is important. 00:10:50.200 --> 00:10:56.320 Like I said, these things have to be challenged in the courts, and sometimes it will go our way, and sometimes it will not. 00:10:57.000 --> 00:11:00.000 That is a matter of legal and political strategy. 00:11:00.920 --> 00:11:04.240 And he's not necessarily engaged in that. 00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:12.780 He's not picking the optimal place to have this confrontation, and then get it into an optimal venue, and then have the appeals path and the right panel. 00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:14.340 He's not planning all that stuff. 00:11:14.340 --> 00:11:17.440 That's the sort of thing that you need attorneys on your side to be doing. 00:11:17.900 --> 00:11:20.440 That is something that, for instance, the NRA does. 00:11:20.440 --> 00:11:21.660 I know that for a fact. 00:11:21.660 --> 00:11:24.140 I've talked to a number of their attorneys, friends with some of them. 00:11:24.940 --> 00:11:26.320 That is something they do, right? 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:34.240 You pick the place where you want to challenge something because you have the optimal conditions to most likely obtain the outcome that you desire. 00:11:35.560 --> 00:11:40.360 I think that this is probably a better venue than many others because it's in Tennessee. 00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:50.120 Unfortunately, it is not in the, we'll say, more staunchly conservative parts of Tennessee because he's in the Nashville area, which is... 00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:51.540 It's not Memphis. 00:11:51.540 --> 00:11:53.740 It could be worse, but it's, you know, not... 00:11:54.600 --> 00:11:56.200 Knoxville is a little better where I am. 00:11:57.720 --> 00:12:00.740 So yes, the overall, I don't think he should have been arrested. 00:12:00.800 --> 00:12:01.620 He has been. 00:12:01.620 --> 00:12:06.460 It's going to be probably a pretty long fight, and they're probably going to throw the book at him. 00:12:06.580 --> 00:12:10.640 It looks like they've already essentially done that, but they will continue to pursue it. 00:12:10.640 --> 00:12:24.480 So support him if you can, because he's being persecuted not because of any particular incident, but because the incident gave them the opportunity to charge a white Christian male with a crime and try to make an example of him. 00:12:25.080 --> 00:12:29.660 That's what's happening here, because we have a legal system that is not a legal system. 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:33.940 It is not a matter of justice, it's certainly not a justice system. 00:12:34.220 --> 00:12:39.520 It's a matter of injustice and persecution, deliberately aimed at white Christian males. 00:12:46.896 --> 00:12:53.196 Question two is sort of shifting gears, although I guess it's still a little bit legal-related here. 00:12:55.616 --> 00:13:03.276 How should a young Christian man approach the pursuit of marriage when he has developed a strong interest in a godly young woman who is significantly younger? 00:13:03.636 --> 00:13:10.996 In this particular case, a 23-year-old man and a 15-year-old girl from a conservative Christian family, he's known her for years. 00:13:10.996 --> 00:13:16.316 This was a friend passing the question to me to ask, to answer it. 00:13:16.856 --> 00:13:22.596 Scripture emphasizes the importance of sexual purity and the value of marriage as a safeguard against immorality. 00:13:22.596 --> 00:13:27.576 In fact, Scripture gives marriage as the only cure for sexual temptation. 00:13:28.396 --> 00:13:40.656 It also shows examples and principles regarding betrothal, parental involvement, and readiness for marriage in patriarchal contexts, for example, the Old Testament narratives and the emphasis on the father's role. 00:13:41.076 --> 00:13:44.016 Yes, I'll comment on that in a second here. 00:13:44.476 --> 00:13:51.096 Key questions for my personal situation are, what does the Bible teach about appropriate age differences for marriage? 00:13:51.556 --> 00:13:57.876 Is it advisable to wait for a specific young woman who is not yet of typical marrying age according to our day and age? 00:13:58.176 --> 00:14:00.936 At what age do you think it is appropriate for a girl to marry? 00:14:01.336 --> 00:14:09.756 Or does the command to flee sexual temptation and the practical delay in forming a household council pursuing a similarly godly wife who is closer in age? 00:14:11.476 --> 00:14:17.116 What principles would guide a decision in such a situation, especially in a secular European context? 00:14:17.156 --> 00:14:18.496 The questioner is German. 00:14:18.956 --> 00:14:24.876 Where biblically minded Christian women are rare, and I doubt it will be able to find anyone else soon. 00:14:26.616 --> 00:14:36.336 So, I would start out by noting something linguistically, that many sort of gloss over when reading scripture and other old documents. 00:14:37.716 --> 00:14:45.656 When scripture speaks of marriage, and incidentally, like I said, older documents as well, they speak of two distinct things, actually. 00:14:46.416 --> 00:14:49.096 Because how does scripture speak of marriage? 00:14:49.096 --> 00:14:52.836 It says, for instance, when talking about the flood, right? 00:14:52.896 --> 00:14:55.936 They were marrying and being given in marriage. 00:14:56.596 --> 00:14:57.916 Two different things, right? 00:14:57.996 --> 00:14:59.716 The first is the man. 00:14:59.996 --> 00:15:01.196 The second is the woman. 00:15:01.596 --> 00:15:03.556 Well, women are given in marriage. 00:15:04.416 --> 00:15:05.756 Who's doing the giving, right? 00:15:05.756 --> 00:15:06.226 Someone has to... 00:15:06.226 --> 00:15:09.016 you can't have a gift without a giver, right? 00:15:09.356 --> 00:15:16.156 You can't have, in this case, a wife being given in marriage without someone giving her away. 00:15:16.876 --> 00:15:27.576 That's the reason we have the ceremony still in a formal marriage ceremony of the father giving away the bride, because the father is the one who has the veto. 00:15:27.816 --> 00:15:29.936 At the very least, he's supposed to have a veto. 00:15:30.756 --> 00:15:34.256 He should be involved in determining who gets to marry his daughter. 00:15:34.276 --> 00:15:43.436 That's one of the reasons that an unmarried woman should never be outside her father's house, unless, of course, her father is dead or a criminal or something heinous, right? 00:15:44.116 --> 00:15:49.956 Then she is the responsibility of the next closest male relative, who is of appropriate age, right? 00:15:51.036 --> 00:15:52.016 That's how it goes. 00:15:52.716 --> 00:16:03.176 So a woman being given in marriage means that, yes, you should absolutely ask her father for permission to marry her, for him to give her away to you as a wife. 00:16:03.616 --> 00:16:07.176 So in this case, you have an eight-year gap, right? 00:16:08.376 --> 00:16:09.056 I don't care. 00:16:09.376 --> 00:16:11.036 An eight-year gap is not a big deal. 00:16:11.996 --> 00:16:20.916 The only way that an age gap starts to be a real issue is when you get into like significant age, you know, 25-year age gap. 00:16:20.976 --> 00:16:21.896 Maybe don't do that. 00:16:22.956 --> 00:16:33.156 Partly because as the man, you're going to die way before your wife if you're 20 years older than her, because you're already probably going to die younger, then she will eventually die. 00:16:33.576 --> 00:16:35.036 She's going to outlive you. 00:16:35.816 --> 00:16:44.616 You don't want your wife necessarily to be a widow, at least you're not intending, because in this case, you're basically intending for her to be a widow for decades. 00:16:45.376 --> 00:16:47.936 In this specific hypothetical, that's not the case, right? 00:16:47.936 --> 00:16:50.216 Eight years is not really a big deal. 00:16:50.976 --> 00:17:01.596 No, I'm not saying that you, your friend in this case as a 23-year-old should marry the 15-year-old now, because as a Western European, I think the Western Europeans have been largely right on this. 00:17:01.596 --> 00:17:04.296 There's a little bit of a difference with, it's the Hodgemull line. 00:17:04.296 --> 00:17:07.436 There's a little difference with Eastern Europe and certainly other parts of the world. 00:17:08.176 --> 00:17:18.616 By and large, the marriage age for women in Western Europe has been around 21, 21, 22, 23, sometimes a little younger, sometimes a little older. 00:17:18.936 --> 00:17:26.616 But usually, that early, that first half of the 20s is about when women get married in Western European context. 00:17:27.236 --> 00:17:30.016 In the East, it's been, you know, 16, 17, 18. 00:17:31.196 --> 00:17:35.296 I know that the age of consent's a little younger in some parts of Germany, for instance. 00:17:35.976 --> 00:17:43.236 But there is, of course, the inaptly named in the US context, Romeo and Juliet laws, which are proximity and age laws, right? 00:17:44.336 --> 00:17:48.236 Now, of course, that's usually for things that are immoral, not necessarily for marriage. 00:17:48.236 --> 00:17:51.596 Marriage has different rules, but they're related laws. 00:17:52.636 --> 00:17:56.756 So I think the best advice here is just wait three years and then marry her. 00:17:57.456 --> 00:18:05.796 If her father says, yes, if this is, you know, you have obviously, you've known her for years, this is a family connection of some kind, right? 00:18:06.436 --> 00:18:08.916 Your families know each other, and that is what I'm saying there. 00:18:09.916 --> 00:18:11.076 There's nothing wrong with that. 00:18:11.256 --> 00:18:13.276 By all means, it's probably a good idea. 00:18:13.276 --> 00:18:15.596 It just means that, yes, you're going to have to wait for three years. 00:18:15.836 --> 00:18:19.576 And so you have to practice chastity for three years. 00:18:19.576 --> 00:18:20.836 That's what men are supposed to do. 00:18:20.836 --> 00:18:23.696 It's what women are supposed to do as well before marriage. 00:18:24.176 --> 00:18:33.936 So, the age of marriage isn't so much a scriptural command as something that God built into creation itself. 00:18:34.556 --> 00:18:37.816 We can see when these things are supposed to take place naturally, right? 00:18:38.056 --> 00:18:43.236 We know that there's an age of sexual maturity for men and for women. 00:18:43.476 --> 00:18:48.476 We know that there's a certain sort of just general maturity, a psychological maturity. 00:18:48.876 --> 00:18:57.296 No, I'm not saying that your frontal lobe or your prefrontal cortex or whatever argument they're using these days has to be fully developed and you can't marry till you're 35, right? 00:18:57.296 --> 00:18:58.356 That's ridiculous. 00:18:58.776 --> 00:19:05.176 But we know that there are biological realities, including fertility, that factor into this. 00:19:05.456 --> 00:19:09.156 And so, yes, women should by and large be marrying in their early 20s. 00:19:09.516 --> 00:19:12.056 Men mid to late 20s is ideal. 00:19:13.076 --> 00:19:16.956 That is how society works when things are functioning well. 00:19:17.576 --> 00:19:33.796 And so, if this friend has managed to find a godly woman, by all means, he should speak to the father, arrange things so that, you know, I want to marry your daughter in three years when it is appropriate to do so. 00:19:35.156 --> 00:19:41.256 He may very well respect you for being appropriate, for doing the right thing and speaking to him about it. 00:19:41.916 --> 00:19:43.436 But if that works out, great. 00:19:43.436 --> 00:19:46.656 You've found a godly wife and a great gift from God. 00:19:46.656 --> 00:19:49.696 So, I think that's the way to do that here. 00:19:50.076 --> 00:19:55.356 And like you say, finding godly women can be a little bit of a challenge in some parts of the world these days. 00:19:55.656 --> 00:19:59.516 So, if your friend has found one, by all means, he should pursue that. 00:20:06.513 --> 00:20:07.933 Question three. 00:20:09.713 --> 00:20:23.573 Should we understand the devil's plan to erase or corrupt our understanding of nationhood not only as a means to desecrate creation, but also to delay the Great Commission and the End Times since there may yet be nations not born? 00:20:24.873 --> 00:20:38.453 At the time of the order to go and baptize all nations, America was still approximately 1600 years from its birth, so the church at the time could not have known to baptize us specifically, and this would apply to other young nations as well. 00:20:43.945 --> 00:20:47.185 And there's just some reasoning I was reading through quickly before answering the question. 00:20:48.805 --> 00:21:00.485 So when it comes to baptizing all nations, I don't think that the command means to baptize all nations that will ever or could ever be created in perpetuity. 00:21:00.745 --> 00:21:03.045 And of course, there's a limit to that, right? 00:21:03.045 --> 00:21:09.465 Because you can't keep creating novel nations, you'll eventually run out of stock, out of material. 00:21:09.945 --> 00:21:17.585 And you wind up with a massive generalized beige people, really probably darker than beige in reality, just because of the numbers. 00:21:18.205 --> 00:21:24.945 But I think it was, you know, you're baptizing all the existing nations. 00:21:25.185 --> 00:21:28.205 You are spreading the word of God to the whole world. 00:21:28.205 --> 00:21:31.165 I incidentally think that the Great Commission has been fulfilled. 00:21:31.165 --> 00:21:32.385 I think we already did that. 00:21:32.925 --> 00:21:36.605 This was a common belief among Lutherans centuries ago. 00:21:36.605 --> 00:21:38.085 It's somewhat fallen out of favor. 00:21:38.585 --> 00:21:40.965 There are some of the Church Fathers who believed in it. 00:21:40.965 --> 00:21:52.825 There are some who've argued it was completed at the time of the Apostles, because the Apostles went to all of the great nations, which is to say all of the main groups descended from the sons of Noah. 00:21:53.345 --> 00:21:54.525 So there were those who viewed that. 00:21:54.825 --> 00:21:57.985 I don't think this is an ongoing requirement. 00:21:58.545 --> 00:22:00.885 I think we're still supposed to spread the gospel. 00:22:00.885 --> 00:22:05.465 We're still supposed to bring things into subjection under Christ. 00:22:05.725 --> 00:22:06.985 All of that still applies. 00:22:07.005 --> 00:22:09.645 But I think the Great Commission, we've fulfilled that. 00:22:09.645 --> 00:22:15.225 I think we've fulfilled that as Europeans during the period of colonialism and conquest. 00:22:16.705 --> 00:22:29.085 So the way you can look at this is that any new nation that comes to be, and yes, ethnogenesis is very much a thing, which just means the creation of a new ethne, a new group, a new race. 00:22:30.745 --> 00:22:35.345 That's a very real thing, but they have to come from founding nations, right? 00:22:35.745 --> 00:22:39.445 One, more than one in this case, two or more founding nations. 00:22:39.745 --> 00:22:48.185 And so, for instance, in the American context, I have routinely highlighted Americans by and large are the product of three nations, historically. 00:22:48.485 --> 00:22:56.365 There are some others now as well, and I think people who listen to me recognize, maybe people on X don't, some of that's probably malicious. 00:22:56.865 --> 00:23:08.965 People who listen to me recognize that I'm not saying that no one else could ever possibly come to America and become part of America and his children or grandchildren or great-grandchildren be American, right? 00:23:09.805 --> 00:23:11.945 I'm not excluding the Norwegians, for instance. 00:23:12.565 --> 00:23:20.145 I had a handful of Norwegian friends, actually, growing up in Lutheran school, because there was a Norwegian Lutheran church where I grew up. 00:23:21.125 --> 00:23:30.105 At any rate, in the US context, you have German, English, Scottish, in varying proportions in different parts of the country. 00:23:30.485 --> 00:23:35.125 Those are the major three founding stocks of the American nation. 00:23:35.285 --> 00:23:36.825 And so you have ethnogenesis. 00:23:37.325 --> 00:23:47.585 Ongoing in our case, because it hasn't really completed yet, but you have more Scots-Irish, for instance, here in Appalachia. 00:23:47.945 --> 00:23:51.545 You have more of the English up in the northeast. 00:23:51.765 --> 00:23:53.585 In the Midwest, you have more German. 00:23:54.385 --> 00:23:56.625 But those are the founding stock. 00:23:57.505 --> 00:24:03.385 But that means that you had to have those founding stocks to create the American nation. 00:24:03.645 --> 00:24:08.685 Well, all three of those groups, all three of those races, were evangelized. 00:24:09.425 --> 00:24:18.225 You don't have to re-evangelize the American nation just because it's a new nation created from ones that had already been evangelized. 00:24:19.345 --> 00:24:26.585 That had been fulfilled, because the Germans were evangelized, the English were evangelized, the Scots were evangelized, right? 00:24:27.105 --> 00:24:40.225 So the American nation was evangelized with regard to our ancestors, after Christ issued the command to baptize all nations, but before the creation of the American nation. 00:24:40.465 --> 00:24:43.365 So, like I said, I believe that that has already been fulfilled. 00:24:43.365 --> 00:24:53.305 I don't think that we have to wait until every possible combination of men has occurred on the earth, and then take the gospel to them. 00:24:53.965 --> 00:24:55.385 I think that it was fulfilled. 00:24:56.145 --> 00:25:02.945 In large part, during the lives of the apostles, but then certainly during the period of colonialism and European conquest. 00:25:06.985 --> 00:25:13.085 So, no, I don't think that, to answer the other part of that, I don't think that Satan is using it as a tactic to delay the second coming. 00:25:13.085 --> 00:25:14.605 I don't think he can delay it at all. 00:25:15.365 --> 00:25:21.265 I'm sure he would love to delay the second coming, because that's the beginning of the end for Satan. 00:25:21.725 --> 00:25:24.485 In his case, an eternal end, which is very bad news. 00:25:24.905 --> 00:25:26.705 But he can't delay that at all. 00:25:28.005 --> 00:25:35.405 All he can do is uselessly and impotently gnash his teeth and be angry, and he can cause problems, but he can't change God's plans. 00:25:38.765 --> 00:25:40.105 Question 4. 00:25:40.385 --> 00:25:42.645 Mormon and Amish Influence. 00:25:46.485 --> 00:25:58.145 Will predominantly white Mormon and Amish communities in America grow into significant political or social forces due to their in-group preferences and resistance to mainstream cultural influences? 00:25:58.145 --> 00:26:00.885 And if so, how should this be addressed? 00:26:00.945 --> 00:26:04.085 So the short answer is the Amish will not the Mormons already have. 00:26:05.165 --> 00:26:09.905 The Amish will not because they are the hard line Anabaptists. 00:26:10.485 --> 00:26:15.885 All Baptists are Anabaptists because Anabaptist just means re-baptizer. 00:26:15.945 --> 00:26:18.085 It's the reason that in German, it's Vita Toifa. 00:26:18.085 --> 00:26:20.165 It's re-baptizer, literally re-baptizer. 00:26:20.585 --> 00:26:31.905 But because English likes to steal words from other languages, we took the Greek, which makes some sense because baptize is a Greek verb, and we just took the Greek for re to do it again. 00:26:32.925 --> 00:26:34.725 So it means re-baptizer. 00:26:34.725 --> 00:26:47.925 So all Baptists are technically Anabaptists because they would all re-baptize, which is not a thing, but they would all baptize someone who had already been baptized as a child, which is to say they would re-baptize. 00:26:49.085 --> 00:26:50.405 They just dropped the anabit. 00:26:51.205 --> 00:27:08.025 However, what most Baptists in the US context, which is why it is still useful to distinguish them, dropped was the political views and the social views to a large degree of the Anabaptists, at least the historical ones. 00:27:08.365 --> 00:27:21.645 Certainly the crazier groups, but even the Amish and the Mennonites and others weren't like the crazier groups in history, that literally had to have imperial troops called out to put down rebellions in entire towns because of how bad they were. 00:27:22.225 --> 00:27:27.265 Thankfully, the Amish and the Amish couldn't, because they don't believe in technology, many of them. 00:27:27.925 --> 00:27:31.005 Thankfully, the Amish and the Baptists, generally, are not doing that these days. 00:27:31.945 --> 00:27:37.545 So the reason the Amish will not accomplish anything is they still hold to those political views. 00:27:37.545 --> 00:27:39.585 They don't really involve themselves in politics. 00:27:40.005 --> 00:27:44.865 They, depending on the group, more or less view holding political office as a sin. 00:27:45.725 --> 00:27:49.205 So they're never going to be a real force. 00:27:49.705 --> 00:27:57.365 They are a force to some degree in their own limited area, geographically speaking, culturally and economically. 00:27:57.545 --> 00:28:04.205 The Hutterites are particularly economically important, for instance, up in Canada, for certain reasons. 00:28:04.205 --> 00:28:08.285 They are okay with technology to some degree, more than the ones we have here. 00:28:08.745 --> 00:28:10.165 And so, they are very good farmers. 00:28:10.605 --> 00:28:19.305 So economically, they are important, culturally obviously, to some degree, but they are insular, so they don't have that much influence on things. 00:28:19.905 --> 00:28:22.245 Now, the Mormons, very different story. 00:28:23.425 --> 00:28:32.485 The Mormons have infiltrated the FBI and the CIA and many other federal and state groups to a very large degree. 00:28:33.125 --> 00:28:37.605 They actually have a great deal of influence, more or less behind the scenes. 00:28:38.165 --> 00:28:46.325 They don't have a nut influence yet in order to really have frontmen, a face. 00:28:46.885 --> 00:28:59.965 In their own context, which is to say Utah, and increasingly Nevada, parts of California, parts of Idaho, they do have influence there, and so obviously they have their own politicians, they have their own groups. 00:29:00.825 --> 00:29:04.405 But on the national stage, you know, they tried, right, Romney. 00:29:05.445 --> 00:29:06.945 We all know how well Romney went. 00:29:07.645 --> 00:29:08.385 Not very. 00:29:09.045 --> 00:29:16.485 So they don't have the power to do that yet, but they have a great deal of control and influence behind the scenes. 00:29:17.145 --> 00:29:40.305 Nowhere near what the Jews have, of course, but they should not be discounted, because Mormons have a lot of money, and they have almost a virulent in-group preference, because they have it in the sense of, if you don't adhere to everything the Mormon church tells you, you become an outcast, and your own family disown you. 00:29:41.405 --> 00:29:44.505 We could argue whether or not that's what you're supposed to do religiously. 00:29:45.065 --> 00:29:46.125 In some cases, yes. 00:29:46.125 --> 00:29:47.265 In some cases, no. 00:29:48.165 --> 00:29:50.305 But they are particularly bad at it. 00:29:50.305 --> 00:30:12.425 It's one of the reasons that a lot of times, I've mentioned this before, if you manage to get someone out of the Mormon cult, a lot of times the most important part of that is physically relocating that person and giving them another support structure because they will be harassed if they stay put, and all of their support structure will evaporate overnight. 00:30:13.385 --> 00:30:22.105 So the Mormons definitely are a force in American politics and American culture, certainly economically in their own sphere. 00:30:23.405 --> 00:30:48.845 They are a very real problem going forward for the American right, particularly the Christian right, because they pretend to be Christian, they are very much not Christian, and they will serve as almost a fifth column and certainly an anchor, which is unfortunate, because by and large, the rank and file anyway, maybe not the higher ups, but the rank and file Mormons are very nice men and women. 00:30:49.325 --> 00:30:51.785 They generally are hard workers. 00:30:51.865 --> 00:31:06.085 There are a lot of things that are great about them, but they're part of an evil organization that is openly blasphemous, that is anti-Christian, and that is very much our problem, because we allowed it to fester. 00:31:06.685 --> 00:31:11.425 We allowed them to flee and set up shop and then expand. 00:31:11.865 --> 00:31:18.825 We are to blame for that, because it is our territory, it is the failure of our forefathers, that's the reason we have Mormons. 00:31:19.285 --> 00:31:23.265 That is something that should have been solved long ago and it was not. 00:31:23.605 --> 00:31:34.565 It was addressed incorrectly, inefficiently, and incompletely, which is why we have the problem today, and it's a much bigger problem than it would have been a hundred years ago. 00:31:36.865 --> 00:31:39.905 So Amish, no influence. 00:31:42.265 --> 00:31:52.045 Population wise, good to some degree, because obviously there are a lot of genetically fit Amish, and they're basically exclusively white. 00:31:52.045 --> 00:31:58.605 So in those terms, good, if you can find an Amish wife, you're going to have some conflicts there and some problems, but maybe that'll work out. 00:31:59.085 --> 00:32:02.865 Mormons are difficult, because Mormons are going to have influence, they already do. 00:32:04.085 --> 00:32:06.705 And it is not to our benefit that they do. 00:32:09.965 --> 00:32:12.365 Question five. 00:32:15.065 --> 00:32:28.425 Was the Great Commission in Matthew 28 issued to all Christians related to the idea of the priesthood of all believers, or was it more of a directive to those in the office of public ministry, such as the apostles? 00:32:29.305 --> 00:32:32.585 And then I'll read the reasoning here as well, because it's relevant for this. 00:32:32.945 --> 00:32:37.245 I am trying to have a better understanding of the duties of a believer and of the pastoral office. 00:32:37.525 --> 00:32:52.985 I am curious how different readings of Ephesians 412 play into this, as older translations include a comma dividing a phrase that seems to indicate that certain leaders are given to do works of ministry, not that all saints are equipped for works of ministry. 00:32:54.945 --> 00:32:59.585 This gets into a related question that I am not going to get to this week. 00:32:59.585 --> 00:33:03.745 I have it on my list for an upcoming episode at some point. 00:33:04.785 --> 00:33:09.585 The issue of the call and Lutheran understanding of what it is, and what is the call? 00:33:09.585 --> 00:33:10.245 Who has a call? 00:33:10.245 --> 00:33:11.305 Who doesn't have a call? 00:33:11.385 --> 00:33:12.385 Who should be included? 00:33:12.385 --> 00:33:12.985 What power? 00:33:12.985 --> 00:33:13.925 All that sort of stuff. 00:33:14.185 --> 00:33:18.725 That's why I'm not getting into it this week, because it's probably going to be relatively involved. 00:33:19.485 --> 00:33:32.765 However, as far as spreading the Word of God is concerned, generally speaking, all Christians do have some duty to spread the Word of God, spread the Gospel. 00:33:33.905 --> 00:33:39.285 It varies according to the talents God has given you and the opportunities he gives you. 00:33:39.745 --> 00:33:51.885 So it may be that you are the father of a household, and that other than that, you have no rank, no control, no influence in society, you know. 00:33:52.825 --> 00:33:56.105 You work on your own land, let's say, let's give an extreme example. 00:33:56.105 --> 00:34:01.625 You're out in the middle of nowhere, you work on your own land, the only other people you see are the people at your church. 00:34:02.325 --> 00:34:03.085 Once a week. 00:34:03.485 --> 00:34:12.925 Okay, your duty is to instruct your wife, raise godly children, and do what you can with regard to your church and your neighbors. 00:34:13.305 --> 00:34:13.925 That's it. 00:34:14.725 --> 00:34:19.545 That's the extent of your duty with regard to spreading the word of God. 00:34:20.345 --> 00:34:30.525 And so I already went over the Great Commission to some degree, but you don't have a duty to fly over to Africa or China or somewhere like that and spread the word of God. 00:34:30.925 --> 00:34:38.825 God has given you a time and a place and put people in your sphere of influence, entrusted them to your care. 00:34:39.025 --> 00:34:43.585 Your duty is to do that, to care for the things God has given to you. 00:34:44.165 --> 00:34:54.745 Now, if you are the leader of a nation, you have different duties, because your biggest duty is to see that your entire nation obeys God. 00:34:55.465 --> 00:34:59.705 And so I've said this before, and it's worth saying, and I'll probably say it again. 00:35:00.125 --> 00:35:11.285 Don't necessarily envy the men who obtain an office like president or king or prince or whatever it happens to be. 00:35:11.985 --> 00:35:17.785 They are going to get some very penetrating and perhaps awkward questions from God at the judgment. 00:35:18.645 --> 00:35:28.585 Scripture is explicit that teachers have a stricter judgment, but Scripture also says in many places, God is going to judge you according to what you have been given. 00:35:29.045 --> 00:35:32.525 And so, and of course, what you did with it or did not do with it. 00:35:33.165 --> 00:35:39.765 Leaders have been given a great deal, particularly, say, the leader of the United States, who is the most powerful man in the world. 00:35:40.865 --> 00:35:55.765 He is going to have to answer to God for what he did or did not do with regard to the Christian religion and seeing that it is practiced in the lands under his control and lands within his influence, and what he did with regard to false religion. 00:35:56.485 --> 00:36:06.825 And that is on top of what he did with the economy and the culture and social and all these other things, because the king is the head of the nation. 00:36:07.685 --> 00:36:10.145 He is, in a sense, sort of the avatar of the nation. 00:36:10.525 --> 00:36:15.945 He is going to stand before God and be judged for what his nation did or failed to do. 00:36:17.065 --> 00:36:21.985 So maybe you don't envy those men because you probably don't want that sort of judgment. 00:36:22.325 --> 00:36:30.085 Teachers receive a stricter judgment because teachers are standing up and saying, I am speaking on behalf of God when I say X, Y, and Z. 00:36:31.565 --> 00:36:33.785 So teachers get a stricter judgment as well. 00:36:34.785 --> 00:36:37.365 But this is a matter, essentially, of vocation, right? 00:36:37.365 --> 00:36:39.665 The question is asking about vocation. 00:36:40.645 --> 00:36:46.665 Your vocation, first and foremost, is your job, right? 00:36:46.845 --> 00:36:47.785 And your family. 00:36:49.105 --> 00:36:59.885 You have, to some degree, the duty to spread the word of God within the context, again, of the abilities, the influence, the power, the authority, all these things. 00:36:59.925 --> 00:37:05.645 These gifts, these attributes, the things God has entrusted to you, the things He has given you to do that. 00:37:05.985 --> 00:37:11.125 You don't have a duty to try to do what God didn't empower you to do. 00:37:12.705 --> 00:37:17.965 In fact, as I've said before, it is wicked to try to exercise a gift you don't have. 00:37:18.325 --> 00:37:22.325 We can use the extreme example, which makes it very easy for people to understand. 00:37:22.705 --> 00:37:28.785 If God did not give you the gift of prophecy, what do we call it when you stand up and said, God told me? 00:37:30.625 --> 00:37:33.085 Well, the best is false teaching, it's probably blasphemy. 00:37:33.165 --> 00:37:36.425 So don't exercise gifts God didn't give you. 00:37:38.045 --> 00:37:50.865 But again, if you're ahead of a household, you at least have the duty to see that your wife stays in the faith and that you train her up in the faith, and the same for your children, and then do what you can with your neighbors in your church. 00:37:51.185 --> 00:37:53.325 That's the basic rules there. 00:37:56.625 --> 00:37:58.205 But it's probably worth mentioning. 00:37:58.545 --> 00:38:18.305 Even pastors, right, who people view as having this exceptional sort of duty, which they do to some degree, the office gets a little more prestige than it warrants, but they don't have a general duty to go to other parts of the world and spread the gospel, because God has given them a flock. 00:38:18.845 --> 00:38:20.565 Their duty is to take care of the flock. 00:38:21.825 --> 00:38:25.745